The Lib Dem leader argued he “accepted” and “acknowledged” the result, but believes the British people “deserve a final say”.

Speaking on the morning after the Government lost its landmark ruling, which now means MPs must be given a vote on the triggering of Article 50, the Remain politician argued the referendum he is demanding was not a June 23 re-run.

“In terms of moving this forward – we want a referendum on the deal, I’m going to be pernickety and say it is not a second referendum,” he said during an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme.

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Tim Farron was hammered by Mishal Hussain during an interview on Wednesday

I’m going to be pernickety and say it is not a second referendum

Tim Farron

“This is a referendum on the terms of the deal – so it’s the first referendum on that.”

Mr Farron once again repeated his call for Britons to have a final say on the deal once negotiations had been completed.

“If they don’t like the deal the Government comes up with, they can decide, ‘Well thanks very much for asking, but we’ll stay in the EU after all’.”

The Lib Dem leader second a vote on the final Brexit deal wasn't a second referendum

Today presenter Mishal Husain was quick to point out that Mr Farron’s demands, were absolutely a second referendum on Britain's EU membership.

She blasted: “It goes back to the heart of the question, whether or not what you are suggesting amounts to a second referendum – if the British public voted against the deal the Government struck with the EU – would the consequence of that be staying in the EU?”

Britain's most senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the power to trigger the formal process Article 50 for the UK's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say.

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Issued by the Supreme Court of (top row, from the left) Lord Neuberger, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Sumption, (bottom row, from the left) Lady Hale, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson and Lord Hodge, who agreed with the majority decision that the Government could not trigger Article 50 without Parliamentary approval.

“Well it is then a re-run of the referendum,” Hussain said. “Why don’t you just call it a second referendum?”

Under pressure, Mr Farron tried to justify his argument: “No it’s not because we accept that the Government has got a mandate to go and negotiate Brexit – we’re not trying to derail last June’s referendum.

“What we are saying is the Government does not have a mandate, on a very narrow majority, to go and negotiate any result that it wants – certainly not a 'hard' Brexit – exiting from the single market that was never on the ballot paper.

“It does not have a mandate to do that, it’s going to come back with a deal that the 48 per cent won’t like and half the 52 per cent won’t like either.

Since Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling a number of MPs have stepped up calls for the Government to publish its plan for Brexit in a formal policy document.

Arguing it will allow a fuller debate on Brexit, a number of Tory MPs have joined Labour in asking for a White Paper.

"So we will move swiftly to do just that. I can announce today that we will shortly introduce legislation allowing the Government to move ahead with invoking Article 50, which starts the formal process of withdrawing from the EU."